tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4052593945054595675.post7921044766662971272..comments2024-03-28T14:16:10.498+11:00Comments on Dr Kevin Bonham: Victorian Party Policies On Fixing Group Ticket VotingKevin Bonhamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06845545257440242894noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4052593945054595675.post-1211907777136578292022-11-17T04:59:17.163+11:002022-11-17T04:59:17.163+11:00Liberal submission to the Electoral Matters Commit...Liberal submission to the Electoral Matters Committee in 2018 called for action on GVTs with implied support for Senate style system. Fair to say that liberals would have likely supported changes this term (it advantages them) but resigned to the fact that Labor was never going to change the system.Ottofisterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14906348901452557534noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4052593945054595675.post-63497674606587898952022-11-11T17:19:36.241+11:002022-11-11T17:19:36.241+11:00There is plenty of literature out there suggesting...There is plenty of literature out there suggesting that in principle certain "manner and form" requirements relating to constitutions and parliaments can be entrenched; the situation of the States and Commonwealth appears to be very different in this regard, eg https://lr.law.qut.edu.au/article/download/314/306/314-1-614-1-10-20120911.pdf A question seems to be not whether such entrenchment is possible but whether the "double entrenchment" requirement has been met, or whether it is possible to unpick the entrenchment by repealing the entrenching legislation. The prevailing view at the time seemed to be that it was being met though I would gladly welcome it if this turned out to be incorrect. Kevin Bonhamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06845545257440242894noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4052593945054595675.post-35348683169906987152022-11-11T16:30:44.955+11:002022-11-11T16:30:44.955+11:00As I keep banging on, you may not even need a refe...As I keep banging on, you may not even need a referendum. The idea that a State's Parliament can entrench parts of its Constitution by referendum *without putting the entrenchment itself to a referendum* - as happened with the Bracks-era changes to Victoria's Constitution - is one that the High Court could well knock on the head if it was ever asked to decide the point. It's a clear violation of the principle of parliamentary sovereignty - and sits very oddly with the fact that the Commonwealth Parliament can't entrench *anything* (outside the Constitution) by referendum or special majority even if it wanted to and had the numbers and/or votes.Michael Tandorahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11290911591779398915noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4052593945054595675.post-31529226352095464032022-10-26T00:06:50.191+11:002022-10-26T00:06:50.191+11:00I don`t think an abolish or even merge the regions...I don`t think an abolish or even merge the regions referendum would get much Coalition support. The Nats are almost certain to be strongly opposed. <br /><br />The Liberals would probably not support it either for a number of reasons.<br /><br />Firstly, it may make the Legislative Council harder for them (they are unlikely to support it from opposition, even if they like the idea and if GTV is still around when they are next in government, simply scrapping GTV legislatively without scrapping regions would probably appeal to them more).<br /><br />Secondly, the Liberals generally seem to preselect their Legislative Council candidates through regional preselections where the region`s membership has a say, so region scrapping would risk upsetting the backing of the MLCs within the party. For erxample, in the western and northern suburbs of Melbourne, which mostly has safe ALP seats, getting influence in the preselection of the top legislative Council candidate or two is probably the political decision over which the regions` Liberal Members have most influence and their 2-4 LIberal MLCs are unlikely to want to be cut off from their base. The potential victory/loss of second Liberal MLCs in these regions is also the only electoral lever Liberal and potential Liberal voters have over a state Coalition government in most of these suburbs, further incentivising these Liberals members and their MLCs to oppose region scrapping.<br /><br />Thirdly, the Liberals probably don`t want to upset the Nationals too much.T0000000000001https://www.blogger.com/profile/05135088419363685867noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4052593945054595675.post-60959135547656841612022-10-25T22:28:33.480+11:002022-10-25T22:28:33.480+11:00A referendum at least needs both major parties to ...A referendum at least needs both major parties to stop being insanely useless and support it, but if even that looked like not being enough an alternative could be to merge the five metro regions into a single 25-seat region and merge the three rural/regionals into a 15-seat region. Kevin Bonhamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06845545257440242894noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4052593945054595675.post-78646789321065474202022-10-25T18:26:03.658+11:002022-10-25T18:26:03.658+11:00If the 2010 Legislative Council results had been f...If the 2010 Legislative Council results had been for a single statewide electorate and ATL preferencing, it is highly likely that the Greens would have received 5 seats, given that they got 12%. The Greens would still have been well in the running for a 4th statewide seat in 2018 (their worst election under proportional representation). <br /><br />I also think that a statewide referendum needed for scrapping regions would have a reasonable chance of failing, as a single electorate could seem too centralised to a majority of voters.T0000000000001https://www.blogger.com/profile/05135088419363685867noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4052593945054595675.post-40419093948557815822022-10-24T22:27:33.556+11:002022-10-24T22:27:33.556+11:00I don't expect the minor parties to vote for t...I don't expect the minor parties to vote for that but I do expect them to accept that the current system is wrong and to find an alternative they can call for, and that does give them a chance to be elected based on actual electoral appeal. There is no reason why most of the current minor parties cannot support the replacement of GVT with a single statewide electorate under which parties getting a few percent of the primary vote statewide would be represented. <br /><br />I am even more very very disappointed with the major parties who can work together to fix this in all kinds of ways without losing seats - in fact while gaining seats - yet have failed to do it. Kevin Bonhamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06845545257440242894noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4052593945054595675.post-83385539708537776782022-10-24T17:47:50.603+11:002022-10-24T17:47:50.603+11:00I feel like the student who's getting told by ...I feel like the student who's getting told by their favourite teacher about how they are so very, very disappointed...<br />You can't expect the minor parties to vote for the GVT to be abolished while no other changes are made - we would be literally voting ourselves out of any chance of being elected.<br />While the Greens definitely do support abolition without any other changes, because that would gift them 7 upper house seats and the balance of power, instead of the 3-4 their vote share would entitle them to in a single electorate 40 seat proportionate vote.TimQhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18247870713652009740noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4052593945054595675.post-27055861498587351322022-10-16T20:53:38.577+11:002022-10-16T20:53:38.577+11:00Hi Kevin,
That is an excellent summary of the par...Hi Kevin,<br /><br />That is an excellent summary of the party policies on Group Ticket Voting in the upcoming Victorian Legislative Council election.<br /><br />Thankyou.<br />dedwardshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11754130418220136533noreply@blogger.com